Prison Nursery
Melissa Fletcher
Professor Nagel
English 1201: Summary
29 October 2012
Smith Goshin, Lorie, and Mary Woods Byrne. "Converging Streams of Opportunity for Prison Nursery Programs in the United States." Journal Of Offender Rehabilitation 48.4 (2009): 271-295. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. In their article “Converging Streams of Opportunity for Prison Nursery Programs in the United States,” which appears in Journal Of Offender Rehabilitation, the authors discuss the problems, policies and political issues surrounding prison nurseries in the United States and the benefits of such programs for both mother and child. The authors describe prison nurseries as living arrangements within a correctional facility that allow incarcerated mothers to keep their infants (born during their incarceration) with them through all or part of their sentence. This article brings to question whether these women should be treated any differently than any other incarcerated women and who should pay for these programs. The authors note that this may be one of the most controversial debates surrounding the imprisonment of women.
At the time of this study, the authors note that there are currently 8 states that provide prison nursery programs: California, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, and Washington. This is up from only 3 states in 1998 and notes that New York has had a prison nursery program since 1901. The authors illustrate studies that have shown that the recidivism rate among women who have been allowed to keep their children in prison nurseries is lower than that of other women. However, limited studies have been cited concerning the development of children born into and raised within a prison nursery program.
The authors discuss the cost of prison nursery programs as being one major hurdle into starting and/or continuing these programs. Most nursery programs are segregated from the general prison
Professor Nagel
English 1201: Summary
29 October 2012
Smith Goshin, Lorie, and Mary Woods Byrne. "Converging Streams of Opportunity for Prison Nursery Programs in the United States." Journal Of Offender Rehabilitation 48.4 (2009): 271-295. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. In their article “Converging Streams of Opportunity for Prison Nursery Programs in the United States,” which appears in Journal Of Offender Rehabilitation, the authors discuss the problems, policies and political issues surrounding prison nurseries in the United States and the benefits of such programs for both mother and child. The authors describe prison nurseries as living arrangements within a correctional facility that allow incarcerated mothers to keep their infants (born during their incarceration) with them through all or part of their sentence. This article brings to question whether these women should be treated any differently than any other incarcerated women and who should pay for these programs. The authors note that this may be one of the most controversial debates surrounding the imprisonment of women.
At the time of this study, the authors note that there are currently 8 states that provide prison nursery programs: California, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, and Washington. This is up from only 3 states in 1998 and notes that New York has had a prison nursery program since 1901. The authors illustrate studies that have shown that the recidivism rate among women who have been allowed to keep their children in prison nurseries is lower than that of other women. However, limited studies have been cited concerning the development of children born into and raised within a prison nursery program.
The authors discuss the cost of prison nursery programs as being one major hurdle into starting and/or continuing these programs. Most nursery programs are segregated from the general prison